I have a small iPhone app, which uses a navigation controller to display 3 views (here fullscreen):
How about this :) I now it's old question, but this will work as a charm:
UIViewController *destinationController = [[UIViewController alloc] init];
UINavigationController *newNavigation = [[UINavigationController alloc] init];
[newNavigation setViewControllers:@[destinationController]];
[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate] window].rootViewController = newNavigation;